Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Mike Trout enjoying an Eagles game in Philadelphia. Could this be the start of a long affair with the city of Philadelphia and the Phillies?

There was talk yesterday on MLB Network and it mentioned the marketability of Mike Trout.

There were pros and cons talked about the path that Mike Trout may want to take if he gets frustrated with the finishing place of the Anaheim Angels, like they finished this year. Yes, Trout signed a whopping $144.5M extension to stay with the Angels for 6 years which runs through 2020.

Plenty of reasons were thrown around where Angels management probably would never make a decision to want to trade a player like Trout. He's simply the best player in baseball, but the Angels haven't gone anywhere because of this. One real strong indicator that baseball is a team sport, it takes a lot more than one player to make a good team.

I think the Angels could someday want to test the waters to see what they could get. The bulk of his contract comes due in the years following 2017.

Matt Klentak used to get with the Angels organization, he knows Mike Trout personally, and that could be some sort of blue chip that the Phillies may hold. Another reason the Phillies have an edge is that Trout is from South Jersey, he could be close to his home for most of the baseball season. Of course with the millions that he'll make this season, anywhere could feel like home, and very comfortable at that for him. His roots though are in South Jersey.

Trout holds the keys to his future in regards to trades, he has a full 'no trade' contract. He must approve any trade, and if and when that day comes, it may be tough for him to make a decision. As he gets older, he may want to start be on a winning team. He may stay in that 'small market' bubble. We've seem plenty of good players stay in that mode, and quietly go home when it comes time for playoffs.

He'll probably want to play out the contract with Anaheim, taking him another 4 seasons down the road. Just think though at the contract he would have gotten after this year, he would have been a free agent and with the kind of money that was thrown at Giancarlo Stanton, $325M for 13 years, the money for Trout would have possibly been more per season.

Of course there are a lot of teams that would rush to get the services of a Mike Trout, he's a player that doesn't seem all impressed by teams that would throw money at him, but for now that dream of landing Trout is just that, a dream.